Campaigning for more services
Sending a letter to the Trust could be part of a local campaign. In some areas, campaigns run at a local level by carers have led to services being put in place.
A campaign case study
One Rethink member of staff found out that her local Trust was not prioritising carers services. She and another carer were on the Local Implementation Team and after many months of negotiating managed to get carers services recognised as a priority. Later, the Trust decided that due to its financial difficulties, it would not commission the services the Local Implementation Team wanted. But these two ladies would not give up and approached the Director of Commissioning directly and persuaded other carers to email and write to him. They rallied support from mental health organisations in the area, whether voluntary sector or statutory. The Trust agreed to review the situation and they continued pressure on the Trust during this period through contacts with carers. Finally, they arranged a meeting between the Trust management and local carers, so that they could explain what their needs were and why a new service was essential. Some carers needed some training and some confidence- building exercises before this meeting. The meeting was highly successful and the Trust management were convinced of the need for this new service and it went ahead.
Policy guidance for carers services
Campaigns like this can be highly successful. However, they do take sustained commitment and planning. Change will not happen overnight. It is also important to have some information about the policy context to use.
The strongest piece of policy guidance regarding carers services was the NHS Plan, published in 2000, which promised that by the end of 2004, there would be 700 more carer support workers in post. Given that there are about 300 Primary Care Trusts, that should work out at about 2.5 per Trust – weighting for population and deprivation mean that things are not quite that simple. But even with population and deprivation weightings, most Trusts should have at least 1 carer support worker for people to go to. If this is not the case, it is worth quoting the promise in the NHS Plan. A quote from the review of the National Service Framework published in December 2004 may also be of use:
“We have too little to report on improving the support we provide
to carers in line with Standard 6 of the National Service Framework. Carers want prompt access to help when the person they care for is becoming ill. They want information, practical advice, emotional support and occasional respite. Most of all, they want decent care for their loved ones. Many trusts, though they have made good progress on responding to service users, have less contact with carers. A good trust will have made a commitment to carers, providing comprehensive care plans with arrangements for when crises arise.” (page 74)
Remember that this document was written by the Mental Health Tsar, Louis Appleby, who works for the Department of Health.
Want to campaign locally?
If you are interested in local campaigning, Rethink’s campaigns guide - "So you want to change the world?", could be helpful to you. It is available from The Mental Health Shop on 0845 456 0455 or by visiting their website at www.mentalhealthshop.org. It is £5 to buy or you can get it free as part of a welcome pack when you sign up to become a Rethink campagin activist! If you want to become a Campaign activist send an e-mail to campaigns@rethink.org or phone 0207 330 9115.
